could this happen , seized engine ,

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gary1602

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Hi I am in a bit of a dillemma if someone could give me a answer.

Ok here is the problem , I put my 2 seadoos 2002 4tec in the local dealer to get summarized and fixed , 2 new impellers batteries ect , cost was $2300.00 , ok put them in the lake for the first time this season after 10 minutes in the water one of them filled with water , about 3 inches below the oil cap , called the dealership and they said bring it in. I took it right there and left it with them. A few days later I got a call and they said it was the opas that had broken. I asked if the engine was ok and they said it was running perfect but wanted to put it in the lake just to make sure there was no more leaks. Then i get a call saying that the pistons have gone , crank broken , and a bent rod need to be replaced , cost $5000.000 But what i don't understand is that when i spoke to the general manager he said that the damage was done when it happened on the lake ,, hmmmm i said but it was running perfect in the shop before you tested it on the lake , i could sense like something was going on at this time , anyway he said it would have hidrolocked on the lake and when the done the oil flush and removed the spark plugs it started and ran fine and that he never took it to full power in the shop so would have not known the problem with the crank , bent rod , and pistons , i said surely the tech gut would have heard a funny noise or something , he said no it was up and running good , i am not up to date with engines but how can a engine seize and then un - seize , run perfect , then sees again my question is could this happen , i just get the feeling when i talk to them that they screwed up somewhere and not taking responsibility . any info please . thanks in advance .
 
Sounds like your gonna get screwed!! If there was any engine damage you would hear it as soon as they started it up, especially if it was bend rods and broken crank....that thing would rattle really really bad. I would suspect they started it up prior to draining any water that has entered the engine causing the damage. Only problem will be to have them come clean and take responsibility for the costs!! Good luck
 
Hi I am in a bit of a dillemma if someone could give me a answer.

... I asked if the engine was ok and they said it was running perfect ... Then i get a call saying that the pistons have gone , crank broken , and a bent rod need to be replaced , cost $5000.000

You better get a lawyer, and don't let them do ANYTHING else to that SeaDoo at this point! Get another mechanic from another shop somewhere, and ya'll go inspect this machine where it sits how it sits right now! Take a good digital camera, take pics of everything just how it sits like immediately. Ask for the shop owner to be there and present, you want to talk to him as well. Ask to see the damaged parts, this broken crank... you've probably already wracked up a bill from them taking it apart after all. If they haven't taken it apart though then they're guessing and you shouldn't let them take a single nut or bolt loose at this point! They may just change their tune in a hurry if they see you're not letting them get away with this crap!

That shop is full of it though! There's no way with that much damage the engine would have run at all without A LOT of mechanical noises going on, nobody would claim it is "running perfect". You're being lied to and screwed over big time! With a bent connecting rod, the piston would be hitting the crank with every downstroke and it would be LOUD at idle even... there's VERY little clearance in there. It's also VERY unlikely that the crankshaft is actually broken... hell it would not even start with a broken crank! Think about it! The crank is NOT broken, it's made of much stronger thicker steel than the piston connecting rods, and the engine would never start or run with a broken crankshaft. Geez! And hydrolocking would only affect 1 piston, not all 3... whichever piston reaches top of compression stroke 1st would lock and stop the engine from turning any further. The other 2 pistons would never get that far. You hydrolock on 1 piston only, not all 3! You need to go look at this thing as it sits, take someone else who can qualify as an "expert witness" in court if needed, and take pics of this "broken crankshaft" cause I'd like to see that myself!

fyi: My RXT I bought off Craigslist had a hydrolocked engine when I bought it, it had partially sunk at anchor and when the guy jumped on, started the engine up, and turned to his right to head back to the docks it sucked water into the air intake (which runs along the inside right side of the engine) and locked tight. It bent the connecting rod on #1 piston. He had his local shop drain the oil and take the plugs out and spin the engine to flush the water out, then they put the plugs back in and filled it with oil... it ran like crap, banging away internally. The bottom of the #1 piston was striking the counter-balance of the crank shaft on the downstroke, the bent connecting rod was shorter than a straight connecting rod and there's no clearance in there for that. So he then took it to the SeaDoo dealership he'd originally purchased it from and they took the engine out and apart and diagnosed it as having a bent connecting rod and presented him with a $4,500 estimate to replace the connecting rod and re-assemble and re-install the engine. He just wanted out of it at this point, and listed it on Craigslist for cheap.... I bought it from him for even cheaper since the engine was in pieces and I knew it would be a project to fix and might even require a whole new engine it was impossible to tell with everything already in pieces. Long story short though, I bought a used connecting rod off Ebay, new case and head stretch bolts and new head gasket, put it all back together torquing everything to specs and the engine runs just fine! The crank and bottom of the piston have some dings on them from where they were hitting when they ran it at the 1st shop briefly, but are otherwise just fine and this engine purrs like a kitten and runs like a scalded cat! I only spent like $300 in afore mentioned parts and 3 weekends of my time to fix and re-install the engine.

ps. This incident with the OPAS line busting almost sinking the boat, is a really GOOD reason to put an automatic electric bilge pump in your Doo's! Any number of things can go wrong and let water start filling up the hull without you realizing it till it's too late, but an automatic electric bilge pump won't be fooled and will start pumping water out of the hull automatically... you'll know something is up as soon as you see the water pouring out the thru-hull, and it'll buy you alot more time to get the boat back out of the water again! The OEM water extraction system only works when the engine is running, and it doesn't have very high capacity... nothing near like a 600 gph electric bilge pump! The actual cost doing it yourself is like $60, the peace of mind though is priceless!

- Michael
 
Also, I can't say if the shop screwed up and somehow caused this much damage but I think it's obvious that they aren't being straight with you... there's just no way it has a broken crankshaft yet ran good at idle. There's also no way it has a bent connecting rod yet ran good at idle. There's no way it hydrolocked on 1 piston, but all 3 pistons are ruined. I have to wonder if they've even opened the engine up or are they psychic and just expect you to take them at their word? At any rate, you need to have them STOP all work on this machine and go see it for yourself... I'd expect to see that broken crankshaft especially, and get a damned good explanation why the engine would run at all with a broken crank! I don't think it's broken, I don't even think they've opened the engine up to look at it honestly. This shop sounds mighty shadey to me.

Keep us posted! I'm dying to hear how this turns out. Don't take their word for anything either, $5K isn't chump-change... you can probably get another similar year model Seadoo for that much money off Ebay and part yours out on Ebay to pay for it! There's no way I'd spend that kind of money for engine repair, if it's that bad send it to SBT as a core and get one of their rebuilt engines for < $3K and install it yourself it's not that difficult honest!

- Michael
 
You know, I bet they haven't even taken that engine out of the hull much less split it open to look inside... they're guessing, and writing up the biggest estimate they can think of. If the hull was that full of water and the engine hydrolocked on a piston (suddenly stopping running, and not being able to turn over to start again at the lake), it probably does have a bent connecting rod from that... but the rest is just pure BS. I wouldn't let this shop touch it further or ever again if they told you all that stuff was ruined. There's just no how, no way. Pay them for their "diagnosis", load it up and take it home... make it a winter project, get an SBT rebuilt engine if you don't feel confident enough to try replacing the connecting rod yourself (I'm no engine mechanic, I do computer software development... yet I was able to fix mine myself in less than 1 month of weekends last Fall).

- Michael
 
ladies and gentleman...

ladies and gentleman please fasten your seatbelts tightly... youre in for a bumpy ride my friend.
 
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